Gillingham facing a wait for sell-on cash following John Egan's move from Brentford to Sheffield United

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally is set to challenge the league over payments due from John Egan’s recent transfer.

The Irish defender moved from Brentford to Sheffield United, for a fee understood to be in the region of £4m, and the Gills are due a 20% sell on fee.

Gillingham are set to receive around £700,000, the kind of money needed to balance the books at Priestfield each season, but those payments are due to be made over a two year period.

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally Picture: Ady Kerry

Mr Scally, who fought hard to get a decent deal on Egan in the first place, isn’t happy with the arrangement.

He said: “Our budget is based on us selling or achieving income from transfers of something like £750k a year, so what it does, it helps us on the budget early on, rather than in January or the end of the season.

“It is not cash sitting there that we can just go and blow, but it takes the pressure off the cashflow. We don’t get the money straight away, the way it has been structured is over two years, which is quite ridiculous and which is something I am challenging with the league.

“That is what it is, it wasn’t our deal and we didn’t have any part in it. It is good to see John go on because he is a great guy and it is good we did the deal with a sell-on.”

The Gills were awarded £400,000 for Egan after a tribunal, along with add-ons, netting the club an extra £75,000. The sell-on will take the money made on the defender to over £1m.

Mr Scally said: “It was a deal I did as soon as I came out of hospital. I was up infront of the commission a week after heart surgery arguing away and battling for what we eventually got, which I don’t think was enough at the time anyway.

“I was absolutely insistent there was a sell-on and other add-ons which we have managed to benefit from. I was just doing my job really.”

Read more from Gills chairman Paul Scally in this week's Medway Messenger newspaper